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Inaugural Address of Rutherford B. Hayes 19th President |
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Inaugural Address of President Rutherford B. Hayes
Monday, March 5, 1877
Fellow-Citizens:
WE have assembled to repeat the public ceremonial, begun by Washington,
observed by all my predecessors, and now a time-honored custom, which marks
the commencement of a new term of the Presidential office. Called to the
duties of this great trust, I proceed, in compliance with usage, to announce
some of the leading principles, on the subjects that now chiefly engage the
public attention, by which it is my desire to be guided in the discharge of
those duties. I shall not undertake to lay down irrevocably principles or
measures of administration, but rather to speak of the motives which should
animate us, and to suggest certain important ends to be attained in
accordance with our institutions and essential to the welfare of our country.
At the outset of the discussions which preceded the recent Presidential
election it seemed to me fitting that I should fully make known my
sentiments in regard to several of the important questions which then
appeared to demand the consideration of the country. Following the example,
and in part adopting the language, of one of my predecessors, I wish now,
when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, to repeat what was
said before the election, trusting that my countrymen will candidly weigh
and understand it, and that they will feel assured that the sentiments
declared in accepting the nomination for the Presidency will be the standard
of my conduct in the path before me, charged, as I now am, with the grave
and difficult task of carrying them out in the practical administration of
the Government so far as depends, under the Constitution and laws on the
Chief Executive of the nation.
The permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and by such
measures as will secure the complete protection of all its citizens in the
free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights is now the one subject in
our public affairs which all thoughtful and patriotic citizens regard as of
supreme importance.
Many of the calamitous efforts of the tremendous revolution which has
passed over the Southern States still remain. The immeasurable benefits
which will surely follow, sooner or later, the hearty and generous
acceptance of the legitimate results of that revolution have not yet been
realized. Difficult and embarrassing questions meet us at the threshold of
this subject. The people of those States are still impoverished, and the
inestimable blessing of wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government is
not fully enjoyed. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the cause
of this condition of things, the fact is clear that in the progress of
events the time has come when such government is the imperative necessity
required by all the varied interests, public and private, of those States.
But it must not be forgotten that only a local government which recognizes
and maintains inviolate the rights of all is a true self-government.
With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar relations to each
other have brought upon us the deplorable complications and perplexities
which exist in those States, it must be a government which guards the
interests of both races carefully and equally. It must be a government which
submits loyally and heartily to the Constitution and the lawsthe laws of
the nation and the laws of the States themselvesaccepting and obeying
faithfully the whole Constitution as it is.
Resting upon this sure and substantial foundation, the superstructure of
beneficent local governments can be built up, and not otherwise. In
furtherance of such obedience to the letter and the spirit of the
Constitution, and in behalf of all that its attainment implies, all
so-called party interests lose their apparent importance, and party lines
may well be permitted to fade into insignificance. The question we have to
consider for the immediate welfare of those States of the Union is the
question of government or no government; of social order and all the
peaceful industries and the happiness that belongs to it, or a return to
barbarism. It is a question in which every citizen of the nation is deeply
interested, and with respect to which we ought not to be, in a partisan
sense, either Republicans or Democrats, but fellow-citizens and fellowmen,
to whom the interests of a common country and a common humanity are dear.
The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a large portion of
our country and the advance of 4,000,000 people from a condition of
servitude to that of citizenship, upon an equal footing with their former
masters, could not occur without presenting problems of the gravest moment,
to be dealt with by the emancipated race, by their former masters, and by
the General Government, the author of the act of emancipation. That it was a
wise, just, and providential act, fraught with good for all concerned, is
not generally conceded throughout the country. That a moral obligation rests
upon the National Government to employ its constitutional power and
influence to establish the rights of the people it has emancipated, and to
protect them in the enjoyment of those rights when they are infringed or
assailed, is also generally admitted.
The evils which afflict the Southern States can only be removed or
remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of both races, actuated by
motives of mutual sympathy and regard; and while in duty bound and fully
determined to protect the rights of all by every constitutional means at the
disposal of my Administration, I am sincerely anxious to use every
legitimate influence in favor of honest and efficient local self-government
as the true resource of those States for the promotion of the contentment
and prosperity of their citizens. In the effort I shall make to accomplish
this purpose I ask the cordial cooperation of all who cherish an interest in
the welfare of the country, trusting that party ties and the prejudice of
race will be freely surrendered in behalf of the great purpose to be
accomplished. In the important work of restoring the South it is not the
political situation alone that merits attention. The material development of
that section of the country has been arrested by the social and political
revolution through which it has passed, and now needs and deserves the
considerate care of the National Government within the just limits
prescribed by the Constitution and wise public economy.
But at the basis of all prosperity, for that as well as for every other
part of the country, lies the improvement of the intellectual and moral
condition of the people. Universal suffrage should rest upon universal
education. To this end, liberal and permanent provision should be made for
the support of free schools by the State governments, and, if need be,
supplemented by legitimate aid from national authority.
Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my earnest
desire to regard and promote their truest interestthe interests of the
white and of the colored people both and equallyand to put forth my best
efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will forever wipe out in our
political affairs the color line and the distinction between North and
South, to the end that we may have not merely a united North or a united
South, but a united country.
I ask the attention of the public to the paramount necessity of reform in
our civil servicea reform not merely as to certain abuses and practices of
so-called official patronage which have come to have the sanction of usage
in the several Departments of our Government, but a change in the system of
appointment itself; a reform that shall be thorough, radical, and complete;
a return to the principles and practices of the founders of the Government.
They neither expected nor desired from public officers any partisan service.
They meant that public officers should owe their whole service to the
Government and to the people. They meant that the officer should be secure
in his tenure as long as his personal character remained untarnished and the
performance of his duties satisfactory. They held that appointments to
office were not to be made nor expected merely as rewards for partisan
services, nor merely on the nomination of members of Congress, as being
entitled in any respect to the control of such appointments.
The fact that both the great political parties of the country, in
declaring their principles prior to the election, gave a prominent place to
the subject of reform of our civil service, recognizing and strongly urging
its necessity, in terms almost identical in their specific import with those
I have here employed, must be accepted as a conclusive argument in behalf of
these measures. It must be regarded as the expression of the united voice
and will of the whole country upon this subject, and both political parties
are virtually pledged to give it their unreserved support.
The President of the United States of necessity owes his election to
office to the suffrage and zealous labors of a political party, the members
of which cherish with ardor and regard as of essential importance the
principles of their party organization; but he should strive to be always
mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves the country best.
In furtherance of the reform we seek, and in other important respects a
change of great importance, I recommend an amendment to the Constitution
prescribing a term of six years for the Presidential office and forbidding a
reelection.
With respect to the financial condition of the country, I shall not
attempt an extended history of the embarrassment and prostration which we
have suffered during the past three years. The depression in all our varied
commercial and manufacturing interests throughout the country, which began
in September, 1873, still continues. It is very gratifying, however, to be
able to say that there are indications all around us of a coming change to
prosperous times.
Upon the currency question, intimately connected, as it is, with this
topic, I may be permitted to repeat here the statement made in my letter of
acceptance, that in my judgment the feeling of uncertainty inseparable from
an irredeemable paper currency, with its fluctuation of values, is one of
the greatest obstacles to a return to prosperous times. The only safe paper
currency is one which rests upon a coin basis and is at all times and
promptly convertible into coin.
I adhere to the views heretofore expressed by me in favor of Congressional
legislation in behalf of an early resumption of specie payments, and I am
satisfied not only that this is wise, but that the interests, as well as the
public sentiment, of the country imperatively demand it.
Passing from these remarks upon the condition of our own country to
consider our relations with other lands, we are reminded by the
international complications abroad, threatening the peace of Europe, that
our traditional rule of noninterference in the affairs of foreign nations
has proved of great value in past times and ought to be strictly observed.
The policy inaugurated by my honored predecessor, President Grant, of
submitting to arbitration grave questions in dispute between ourselves and
foreign powers points to a new, and incomparably the best, instrumentality
for the preservation of peace, and will, as I believe, become a beneficent
example of the course to be pursued in similar emergencies by other nations.
If, unhappily, questions of difference should at any time during the
period of my Administration arise between the United States and any foreign
government, it will certainly be my disposition and my hope to aid in their
settlement in the same peaceful and honorable way, thus securing to our
country the great blessings of peace and mutual good offices with all the
nations of the world.
Fellow-citizens, we have reached the close of a political contest marked
by the excitement which usually attends the contests between great political
parties whose members espouse and advocate with earnest faith their
respective creeds. The circumstances were, perhaps, in no respect
extraordinary save in the closeness and the consequent uncertainty of the result.
For the first time in the history of the country it has been deemed best,
in view of the peculiar circumstances of the case, that the objections and
questions in dispute with reference to the counting of the electoral votes
should be referred to the decision of a tribunal appointed for this purpose.
That tribunalestablished by law for this sole purpose; its members, all
of them, men of long-established reputation for integrity and intelligence,
and, with the exception of those who are also members of the supreme
judiciary, chosen equally from both political parties; its deliberations
enlightened by the research and the arguments of able counselwas entitled
to the fullest confidence of the American people. Its decisions have been
patiently waited for, and accepted as legally conclusive by the general
judgment of the public. For the present, opinion will widely vary as to the
wisdom of the several conclusions announced by that tribunal. This is to be
anticipated in every instance where matters of dispute are made the subject
of arbitration under the forms of law. Human judgment is never unerring, and
is rarely regarded as otherwise than wrong by the unsuccessful party in the
contest.
The fact that two great political parties have in this way settled a
dispute in regard to which good men differ as to the facts and the law no
less than as to the proper course to be pursued in solving the question in
controversy is an occasion for general rejoicing.
Upon one point there is entire unanimity in public sentimentthat
conflicting claims to the Presidency must be amicably and peaceably
adjusted, and that when so adjusted the general acquiescence of the nation
ought surely to follow.
It has been reserved for a government of the people, where the right of
suffrage is universal, to give to the world the first example in history of
a great nation, in the midst of the struggle of opposing parties for power,
hushing its party tumults to yield the issue of the contest to adjustment
according to the forms of law.
Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies of
nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you, Senators,
Representatives, judges, fellow-citizens, here and everywhere, to unite with
me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not only of
material prosperity, but of justice, peace, and uniona union depending not
upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion of a free people;
"and that all things may be so ordered and settled upon the best and surest
foundations that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety,
may be established among us for all generations."
Visit Mr. Hayes's Website
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The U. S. Constitution
